The scarcity of food resources, especially edible oils and fats, has forced an investigation into the potential of current edible oil sources. Fats and oils are a significant element of practically every civilization’s diet. They are used in cooking, frying, baking, and so forth. Fats and oils have a significant nutritional function in the body. They provide a rich source of energy, fat-soluble vitamins, essential fatty acids, flavor transporters, and numerous bioactive chemicals that are required for various physiological ac­tivities. The seed oils have a broad variety of bioactivities, including antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiproliferative effects. Cucurbita crops are among the most frequent food items and raw materials used in the production of a broad variety of dietetic, medicinal, and preventive products (Piskunova and Mutyeva, 2016). Cucurbit seed oil is one of the most well-known products in the modern healthy nutrition market, particularly in Austria (Piskunova, 2015; Piskunova and Mutyeva, 2016). This oil is also gaining popularity in Russia and the former Soviet Union (Piskunova and Mutyeva, 2016). The use of cucurbit seed oil as a healthy diet component as well as for medicinal purposes is gaining popularity in China and Japan (Caili et al., 2006; Nishimura et al., 2014; Yao et al., 2019). The cucurbit seed oil is high in phytosterols, with β-sitosterol accounting for more than 39% of the total, and in carotenoids, with β-carotene and lutein being the primary components (Piskunova & Mutyeva, 2016; Ayyildiz et al., 2019; Piskunova, 2015; Yao et al., 2019). It is regarded as a one-of-a-kind treatment for preventing cardiovascular disease, hypertension, urogenital system disorders (prostatitis therapy), oncological and dermatological diseases (Orsavovà et al., 2015). At the moment, there is an increasing need for medi­cations made from natural substances, such as Cucurbitaceae seed oil. In compared to synthetic and semi-synthetic analogs, such medications are often more effective, safer, and less expensive (Bardaa et al., 2016; Piskunova & Mutyeva, 2016; Safar, 2019). The current chapter discusses the primary phyto­chemicals found in Cucurbitaceae seed oils produced by cold pressing or other methods, as well as their positive effects in promoting health and avoiding illness.

Mechanical cold extraction of oils using an expeller is mostly utilized for fiber-rich sources with oil concentration more than 20%. However, as compared to solvent extraction, the expeller generally yields a lower extraction yield (10% -18% of the oil) (Carr, 1989). It is worth noting that in both cases, plant seed moisture should be reduced by sun-drying to facilitate extraction procedures.

2013). According to reports, the solvent/kernel ratio, rather than time and temperature, has the greatest influence on oil yield (Sultana & Ashraf, 2019).

Tocopherols and tocotrienols, abbreviated as tocols, are natural lipophilic antioxidants that preserve veg­etable oils from oxidation (Ozcan et al., 2019; Schwartz et al., 2008). Tocols (vitamin E) are composed of a chromanol ring with a C16 phytol side chain and are divided into two forms based on whether the side chain is saturated (tocopherols) or has three double bonds at carbons 3, 7, and 11 (tocotrienols) (Lachman et al., 2018). Tocopherols and tocotrienols occur in four isomers known as alpha, beta, gamma, and delta; they vary in the methylation pattern of the benzopyran ring, which has three methyl groups (at C-5, C-7, and C-8) (Boschin & Arnoldi, 2011). The most potent lipid-soluble antioxidants in vegetable oils are alpha and gamma tocopherols. The strongest vitamin E activity is shown by alpha-tocopherol, whereas the highest antioxidant activity is shown by gamma-tocopherol (Böhmdorfer et al., 2011; Boschin & Arnoldi, 2011). Recently, there has been a surge in interest in extracting oils from fruit seeds. The bulk of earlier research on fruit seed oils focused only on the fatty acid content. Similarly, there is little information on the profile of tocochromanols, particularly those identified in Cucrubitaceae seed oils. Table 27. 2a shows the tocopherol and tocotrienol compositions of Citrullus lanatus seed oils recovered using solvent and compression extraction procedures.

According to Górnaś et al. (2014), γ-T tocochromanol predominated in Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai seed oil, with a concentration 25 times greater than that found for α-T. Nonetheless, watermelon seeds contained trace quantities of β-T, γ-T, α-T3, and γ-T3. Similarly, only a high level of α-T and a low quantity of δ-T were discovered in the seeds of four distinct watermelon cultivars cultivated in Pakistan (Raziq et al., 2012). However, Górnaś et al. (2014) discovered a comparable tocochromanol composition in Kalahari melon seeds from northern Namibia and Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai seeds from Brazil (Nyam et al., 2009; de Conto et al., 2011). The high amount of γ- tocopherol is consistent with the findings of Mariod et al. (2009), Jorge et al. (2015), and Angelova-Romova et al. (2019). They all claimed that γ-tocopherol was the dominant nutrient. According to Rossel (1991), the